Set up by the school’s executive chef Charlotte D’Isidoro and owner Lynette Foo – ‘Charlyn’ is a combination of their names – expect to find a queue hugging the wall come lunchtime. Join at the end and eye up the hearty, homey cuisine displayed in roasting tins as you make your way up to order. You can point at what you want, but your food won’t be directly spooned out and served economical rice-style; they’ll give you a beeper to redeem your food after it’s been heated up in the busy kitchen.

The menu changes daily, so depending on when you go, you might find a saucy but mild chicken cacciatore or triangles of brown butter-coated mushroom tortellini one day, or slow-cooked lamb leg in garlic sauce or pearl barley and ham salad the next – check their Facebook page for the day’s meal options. Meat meals come with a side dish ($8), pastas clock in at a reasonable $8 and a daily special peaks at $9 a serving.

A small outdoor space offers limited seating, and if you pick your seats right, you can peer in on the cooking classes, where students battle long sheets of pasta and conjure meals over hot stoves. Natasha Hong